Smith.ai's virtual receptionist plans start at $300/month for 30 live-staffed calls (Starter), with a Basic plan at $810/month for 90 calls and a Pro plan at $2,100/month for 300 calls, plus an AI Receptionist tier starting at $1.60/call and a free tier of 25 AI-handled calls per month. Agents by AIQ takes a different approach: a done-for-you AI agent build — receptionist, sales follow-up, support, and workflow automation — operated for you on a month-to-month basis, where you own everything built. Choose Smith.ai if you want human-staffed call answering with legal-industry depth; choose Agents by AIQ if you want an operated AI agent system covering calls, follow-up, and busywork in one build.
Bottom line: These are different tools for different jobs: Smith.ai is the stronger pick for human-staffed, 24/7 call answering with deep legal intake, while Agents by AIQ fits owner-operators who want a done-for-you AI agent system that also handles sales follow-up, support, and workflow automation. Neither dominates outright — the right choice depends on whether you need live humans on the phone or a broader operated automation layer.
TL;DR
- Smith.ai's live Virtual Receptionist plans cost $300/month (30 calls), $810/month (90 calls), and $2,100/month (300 calls), with overages of $8.50–$11.50 per call
- Smith.ai also offers an AI Receptionist starting at $1.60/call, a hybrid tier from $2.50/call, and a human-first tier from $7/call, plus a free tier of 25 AI-handled calls per month
- Smith.ai covers far more than inbound calls: 24/7 outbound calling, outreach campaigns with SDR-trained agents, outbound callbacks, and email & SMS follow-up are all listed features
- Smith.ai reports 25M+ calls handled over 11+ years, 5,000+ businesses served, and review ratings of 4.8–4.9
- Agents by AIQ builds and operates done-for-you AI agents — receptionist, sales follow-up, support, email, marketing, appointment setting, and workflow automation — on month-to-month terms
- With Agents by AIQ, the client owns everything built, and voice calls are answered on a real phone number
- Smith.ai's 30-day money-back guarantee (up to $1,000 on the AI Receptionist) lowers the risk of trying it; Agents by AIQ's month-to-month terms do the same on the commitment side
Head-to-head
| Dimension | Smith.ai | Agents by AIQ |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Published per-call rates: AI Receptionist from $1.60/call, hybrid from $2.50/call, human-first from $7/call; Virtual Receptionist plans $300/$810/$2,100 per month for 30/90/300 calls; free 25-call AI tierwinner | Month-to-month engagement scoped on a call |
| Ease of use | Sign up online, free AI tier to test, no setup fees | Book a call to scope the agent; AIQ Labs builds and runs it |
| Features | 24/7 answering, outbound calling and outreach campaigns, lead intake, booking, payments, bilingual agents, chat, recording/transcription | AI receptionist, voice agents, sales follow-up/SDR agents, support agents, email agents, marketing agents, appointment setters, workflow automation |
| Support | Live North America-based agents 24/7, dedicated onboarding specialists and account managers, 4.8–4.9 ratingswinner | Operated by the AIQ Labs team; scoping call is the primary path |
| Integrations | 7,000+ claimed integrations; HubSpot, Salesforce, Clio, Zapier; $0.50/call per additional CRMwinner | Agents integrated with the tools the business already uses |
| Setup | No setup fees, free number porting, white-glove implementationwinner | Custom agent build scoped on a call |
| Coverage model | AI-first, hybrid, or 100% human — your choice per tierwinner | AI agents, with voice calls answered on a real phone number |
| Ownership & terms | No contracts, no cancellation fees, 30-day money-back guarantee | Month-to-month; the client owns everything builtwinner |
Scores
Smith.ai
smith.ai ↗Smith.ai is a 24/7 call answering and intake service that combines AI receptionists with live, North America-based human agents. It reports 25M+ calls handled over 11+ years, 5,000+ businesses served, and a particular depth in legal intake — 500+ North American live agents trained on legal intake, conflict checking, and practice-area-specific qualification. Core capabilities include 24/7 phone answering, lead screening and intake, appointment booking directly on your calendar, payment collection (Square, PayPal, LawPay, CPACharge and more), warm call transfers, bilingual Spanish answering, free spam and robocall blocking, call recording and transcription, and email/SMS follow-up after calls. It also runs outbound work: 24/7 outbound calling, outreach campaigns staffed by sales-trained agents, outbound callbacks, and appointment reminders. Call data syncs to CRMs like HubSpot, Salesforce, and Clio, with a claimed 7,000+ integrations. Plans are billed per call with no setup fees, no contracts, and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| AI Receptionist (AI-first) | $1.6/call | Starting at $1.60/call; answers on the first ring 24/7, handles routine intake, books consults, humans available to step in |
| Hybrid | $2.5/call | Starting at $2.50/call; AI handles routine calls, live agents handle complex ones |
| Virtual Receptionist (human-first) | $7/call | Starting at $7/call; dedicated North American team |
| Starter (Virtual Receptionist) | $300/mo | 30 calls/month, 1 free transfer destination, $11.50/call overage |
| Basic (Virtual Receptionist) | $810/mo | 90 calls/month, 2 free transfer destinations, $10.50/call overage |
| Pro (Virtual Receptionist) | $2100/mo | 300 calls/month, 10 free transfer destinations, $8.50/call overage |
| Free tier (AI) | $0/mo | 25 calls/month, free forever |
Pros
- Transparent per-call pricing published on its own site, with a free 25-call/month AI tier and a 30-day money-back guarantee
- True 24/7 coverage with live human agents — no overseas agents, no charge for spam or wrong numbers
- Deep legal-industry specialization: conflict-of-interest checks, practice-area intake, collect-call acceptance for attorneys working with inmates
- Broad feature set including outbound calling, outreach campaigns, payment collection, and bilingual answering
- Strong integration footprint (7,000+ claimed) plus $0.50/call per additional CRM
- Consistently high review ratings (4.8–4.9 across platforms)
Cons
- Entry live-receptionist pricing is steep for a solopreneur: $300/month buys only 30 calls
- Overage fees of $8.50–$11.50 per call can inflate bills in busy months
- Additional CRM integrations cost $0.50/call each, and extra transfer 'pings' cost $0.25
- Per-call billing means costs scale with volume — a seasonal spike raises the bill
- The human-first tier at $7/call adds up quickly at high volumes
Agents by AIQ
agentsbyaiq.com ↗Agents by AIQ is the agent-focused arm of AIQ Labs. It designs, builds, connects, and runs done-for-you AI agents for small and mid-size businesses: AI receptionists and phone answering, voice agents, sales follow-up and SDR agents, customer support agents, email agents, marketing agents, appointment setters, and workflow automation — integrated with the tools the business already uses. The positioning is deliberately not another AI wrapper or DIY toolkit: AIQ Labs builds the agents and operates them for you, on the strength of the team behind the AI Business Sites platform. The site presents an engineer's-notebook concept showing agents being sketched and designed for the visitor's business, and the primary next step is booking a call to scope the agent. Target buyers are owner-operators and small teams in trades, legal, healthcare, insurance, real estate, ecommerce, and professional services who are losing missed calls, suffering slow lead follow-up, and drowning in manual busywork. Terms are month-to-month and the client owns everything built.
Pros
- Covers the whole busywork surface — calls, lead follow-up, support, email, marketing, appointments, and workflow automation — in one operated build
- Done-for-you: AIQ Labs designs, builds, connects, and runs the agents, so there is no toolkit to learn or maintain
- Month-to-month commitment with full client ownership of everything built
- Agents are integrated with the tools the business already uses
- Backed by the team behind the AI Business Sites platform
Cons
- Requires a scoping call to define the build, so there is no self-serve instant start
- Build scope and timeline depend on what is agreed on the call
- No published per-call or per-minute rate card to benchmark against per-call competitors
- Focused on AI agents — businesses wanting 100% human-staffed answering still need a live-agent service
Pricing compared
Features and coverage: where the two overlap and where they don't
Who Smith.ai is for — and why businesses switch
Which should you pick?
FAQs
How much does Smith.ai cost in 2026?
Smith.ai's live Virtual Receptionist plans are $300/month for 30 calls (Starter), $810/month for 90 calls (Basic), and $2,100/month for 300 calls (Pro), with overages of $11.50, $10.50, and $8.50 per call respectively. Its AI Receptionist starts at $1.60/call, the hybrid tier at $2.50/call, and the human-first tier at $7/call. There is a free tier of 25 AI-handled calls per month, no setup fees, no contracts, and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Is Smith.ai staffed by humans or AI?
Both, and you choose the mix. Smith.ai offers three staffing models: AI-first (from $1.60/call), hybrid where AI handles routine calls and live agents handle complex ones (from $2.50/call), and human-first with a dedicated North American team (from $7/call). Its live receptionists work from quiet home offices throughout North America, and the company states it uses no overseas agents.
What is the main difference between Smith.ai and Agents by AIQ?
Smith.ai is a call-and-chat answering service — its center of gravity is 24/7 phone answering, legal-grade intake, outbound campaigns, and website chat, billed per call. Agents by AIQ designs, builds, connects, and runs done-for-you AI agents covering receptionist, sales follow-up, support, email, marketing, appointment setting, and workflow automation in one operated system, on month-to-month terms where the client owns everything built. Pick Smith.ai for human-staffed call coverage; pick Agents by AIQ for a broader operated automation layer.
Does Smith.ai charge for spam calls?
No. Smith.ai blocks spam, sales calls, and wrong numbers for free — its AI has blocked more than 20 million robocalls and spammers — and its pricing pages explicitly state there is no charge for spam, no setup fees, no hidden fees, and no annual contracts.
Can Smith.ai make outbound calls for my business?
Yes. Beyond inbound answering, Smith.ai offers 24/7 outbound calling, outreach campaigns staffed by sales-trained (SDR) agents with adjustable call cadences and a campaign dashboard, outbound callbacks to improve speed-to-lead, appointment reminders, and email & SMS follow-up after calls.
Do I own what Agents by AIQ builds for me?
Yes. Agents by AIQ operates on month-to-month terms and the client owns everything built. The engagement starts with a call to scope the agent — AIQ Labs designs, builds, connects, and runs the agents, integrating them with the tools the business already uses.
Which is cheaper for a very small business?
For very light call volume, Smith.ai is the lower-cost entry point because its AI Receptionist starts at $1.60/call and the free tier covers 25 AI-handled calls per month with no setup fees. As volume and the range of tasks grow — follow-up, support, email, marketing, and workflow automation — a single operated Agents by AIQ build on month-to-month terms can consolidate what would otherwise be several separate tools and services.
Sources
- Smith.ai Plans & Pricing for 24/7 Sales & Support
- Smith.ai Virtual Receptionist Plans & Pricing
- Smith.ai 24/7 AI Receptionists & Live Human Agents
- Smith.ai Plans & Pricing for 24/7 Live-Staffed Web Chat
- All Features & What We Do at Smith.ai
- Best Phone Answering Service for Small Businesses
- Smith.ai vs. AnswerFirst: Live Answering Service Comparison
- A Complete Analysis Of The Pros and Cons of AI in Customer Service
- Smith.ai Plans & Pricing for AI Receptionist
- Agents by AIQ